Busted: Carpetbagger Scott Brown botches local New Hampshire question

Former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown (R) showed an apparent lack of familiarity with at least one New Hampshire county during his final debate with incumbent Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) on Thursday night.

“Let’s go to the western part of the state and talk about Sullivan County,” WMUR-TV political director James Pindell said to Brown. “Senator Brown, what do you see going right in the economy in Sullivan County, and what’s going wrong? And please be specific.”

Brown appeared to ignore the final part of Pindell’s question.

“On the southern border, we have more jobs, we have more opportunity,” Brown said. “Infrastructure and other opportunities up north are more difficult. But one of the biggest opportunities is tourism. One of the biggest opportunities are our ski areas and trails for snowmobiles. I support those efforts.”

Brown then drew the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, into his answer, calling it the “biggest wet blanket” on the area’s economy. He added a complaint about the “highest corporate tax rates in the industrialized world” when Pindell stopped him.

“We’re talking about Sullivan County,” Pindell said. “I think you were talking about the North country.”

“I’m talking about any place past Concord, actually, and the challenges of our state,” Brown countered. “So I’m referring to the challenges including a high corporate tax rate, Obamacare coming in after the election, high electric costs. If you go to any county, those are very real challenges.”

“Sullivan County is west of Concord, it’s not north of Concord, Senator Brown,” Pindell responded. “So what do you see going well there? What’s not going well?”

“With respect, I’ve answered the question,” Brown told him. “The challenges are the same in every county in our state.”

Shaheen’s party posted footage of Brown’s remarks, which can be seen below.

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Arturo R. García is the managing editor at Racialicious.com. He is based in San Diego, California and has written for both print and broadcast media, including contributions to GlobalComment.com, The Root and Comment Is Free. Follow him on Twitter at @ABoyNamedArt